Sale of Goods
SALE OF GOODS LAW – SOLICITORS HILLINGDON
Your rights under the Sale of Goods Act
If you buy a product, like almost any transaction you enter into a contract with the seller, which generally makes you and the seller subject to the basic standards that contract law requires.
However, contracts involving the sale of goods are subject to various laws designed to protect consumer rights. One of the most significant bits of legislation is the Sale of Goods Act 1979, under which the seller must discharge numerous obligations.
Obligations under the Act
At a very basic level, the goods must be ‘as described’, ‘of satisfactory quality and be ‘fit for purpose.’
Fit for purpose includes the product’s everyday purpose as well as any specific purpose that you agreed with the seller. If, for example, you asked for a spark plug that would be compatible with your car, then you agreed with a seller that the spark plug would be suitable for a particular purpose.
If you are sold goods that do not comply with the Sale of Goods Act, in the majority of cases, your claim will be against the company that sold you the product – the retailer-and not the manufacturer, unless you bought the product directly from the manufacturer or on a hire purchase agreement.
Remedies
If you feel you were sold a faulty product, then you can opt to reject it, give it back to the vendor and ask for your money back, so long as you do so within a ‘reasonable time.’ What is reasonable depends on the type of product and the nature of the fault. If, for example, the good was perishable, then a reasonable amount of time is going to be considerably less than that for a manufactured product. If the fault was not immediately recognisable, then a reasonable amount of time will be decided on the basis of how long it should reasonably take to find the fault and return the product.
If you want to get the product replaced or repaired, you can do this even when it has become too late to reject it altogether. The vendor can decide whether to replace or repair the product, but must do so within a ‘reasonable time’ that does not cause you significant inconvenience. If the vendor does not comply with these requirements, you are entitled to a reduction on the original purchase price or your money back, less the amount equivalent to the usage of the product you have already enjoyed.
If the vendor refuses to repair or replace the product, you can opt to have it repaired independently and you might be able to claim the cost of doing so back from the original vendor.
Time limit
Any claim under the Sale of Good Act must be brought within six years.
What you need to show
If your claim goes to court, you will of course need to prove that the product did not fulfill one of three conditions discussed above and that the fault was actually present at the time of purchase and not the result of ordinary wear and tear.
If you bring your claim within six months, the vendor will have to prove that the product was as described and fit for purpose at the time of sale, and that the fault was actually caused by you. After these six months are up, the burden of proof shifts to you and you may have to show that the fault with the product was not a result of ordinary wear and tear and was inherent in the product. If this is beyond your technical know-how, an expert can be called upon to give an opinion.